Calling for an end to budget cuts and lamenting declines in
access to education and campus diversity, students took the case
for outreach to the public Saturday.
Outreach programs were cut by 50 percent for the 2003-2004
academic year, and Gov. Schwarzenegger’s proposed budget for
2004-2005 would eliminate all state funds for outreach.
In an effort to inform the community of these cuts and convince
the Legislature to mitigate them, 25 students marched through the
Los Angeles Times Festival of Books at UCLA and then rallied
downtown at the Los Angeles Trade and Technical College.
The students marched silently in a single line, dressed in black
with yellow armbands and carrying crosses and posters with messages
such as “Gov. Arnold, Terminator of education,” and
“R.I.P Diversity.”
Response from the crowd at the festival was generally positive
but subdued, as the students made their way through crowded
walkways. Many festival attendees took fliers, and some clapped and
expressed support for the students.
Germán Gurrola, a fifth-year anthropology and Chicana/o
studies student, said the crowd’s response was a good sign
for the outreach movement.
“That shows me that the general public opinion is
generally against student fee increases and cuts to
education,” Gurrola said.
A chartered bus failed to arrive after the march, so the
students carpooled downtown to the “Save College
Outreach” rally at the L.A. Trade and Technical College.
The rally, which included short speeches by Sen. Richard
Alarcon, D-San Fernando Valley, state Assemblyman Mark Ridley
Thomas, D-Los Angeles, students and college counselors, was
sparsely attended.
About 60 people, nearly half of which were UCLA students,
gathered to hear personal testimonies to the importance of outreach
and calls to continue the fight to maintain it.
Fidel Ramirez, associate director of outreach for California
State University, Northridge said the rally’s purpose was
“to mobilize and organize and inform and educate … to
inform the community that it is possible to be active.”
Some speakers, like Keith Curry, director of the Early Academic
Outreach Program at UC Irvine, stressed the importance of lobbying
legislators.
“It’s time to call, it’s time to send e-mails
““ because if you don’t, we will be having a rally every
single year,” Curry said.
“We have to keep putting pressure until the budget is
signed.”
Though many students were disappointed with the size of the
rally, some ““ like Francisco Lopez, a second-year
psychobiology student ““ considered it a success because it
put the struggles of outreach problems in the public eye.
Representatives from local television news stations also
attended the rally.
Karena Bui, a third-year sociology student, said the rally made
her feel motivated to continue working for outreach.
“It is about the youth,” Bui said. “For us to
be out here for them is really empowering.”
Patty Lopez, a fourth-year psychology and Chicana/o studies
student who spoke at the event, said the location was also
important.
“It is very significant that it is happening (downtown) at
L.A. Trade and Tech, because this is where the community that
really needs the outreach is,” she said.